For example, in mobile electronic devices that include a display unit that has a touch panel function, a function is provided therein to receive an input of a character through a touch operation on a software keyboard (hereafter, simply referred to as the soft keyboard) that is displayed on the display unit. Furthermore, it is known that mobile electronic devices have a function to receive an input of a character through a handwriting operation on the soft keyboard in addition to the function to receive an input of a character through a touch operation on the soft keyboard.
Moreover, mobile electronic devices discriminate between an input of a character through a touch operation on the soft keyboard and an input of a character through a handwriting operation on the soft keyboard. For example, if the coordinates of the starting point and the terminal point of the handwriting operation are within the coordinate area of the same key, the mobile electronic device determines that a character is input by a touch operation on the soft keyboard. Conversely, if the coordinates of the starting point and the terminal point of the handwriting operation are not within the coordinate area of the same key, the mobile electronic device determines that a character is input by a handwriting operation.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 09-319502
However, there is a possibility that, when a character is input by, for example, a handwriting operation, the first stroke of the character to be input is short and the coordinates of the starting point and the terminal point fall within the coordinate area of the same key. For instance, when a character is input by a handwriting operation, the first written stroke is short, and the coordinates of the starting point and the terminal point fall within the coordinate area of the same key; in such a case, there is a possibility that it is improperly determined that the character has been input by a touch operation on the soft keyboard although it is a handwriting operation.
Therefore, in order to prevent such a problem, it is possible that a handwriting input area is separately provided on a display area that is different from the display area where the soft keyboard is displayed. However, in order to obtain a space for screen-displaying the handwriting input area, the display area for screen-displaying other information becomes smaller.